The Annual 00 Wishlist Poll – A Statement from The 00 Poll Team (7.9.20)

[BMacdermott]

The Annual 00 Wishlist Poll – A Statement from The 00 Poll Team (7.9.20)

 

Hello everyone

 

We normally run The Annual 00 Wishlist Poll in October. However, during the past year we have been giving deep thought and consideration to its future. Bear in mind that The Poll has an accompanying Guide – not far off 100,000 words and over 1500 links – which takes many months of review and revision by The Poll Team in the background.

 

Voter numbers have generally increased since we first started but – no matter how hard we try with dozens of personal contacts and hundreds of Press Releases etc – the pollster figure hovers around the 2,500+ mark.

 

Additional to that, the results have been very consistent year-on-year with many new models coming to market that have featured in either The Top 50 or the High Polling segment.

 

The Poll Team has worked together for over 10 years now and dates back to when we were collectively known as ‘The Loco Team’ on the erstwhile MREmag. The Team has stuck together through thick and thin, and has produced a Poll that we are very proud of and one which we know many of you have enjoyed each year.

 

We believe it is now a case of ‘mission accomplished’ and have taken the hard – and deeply heartfelt – decision to bring this annual event to a close.

 

We would like to thank all those who have supported us through the years; in particular, there would not have been a Poll without Pat Hammond and Phil Parker (both late of the original MREmag) and more recently with Andy York here on RMweb. We appreciate you all!

 

Although The Poll will not be running, The Team itself is staying together and will – as usual – help with comments and information where needed. No doubt we will soon be working with Phil and Andy on the next Quirky Poll!

 

Yours most sincerely

 

The 00 Wishlist Poll Team

 

Neil Burgess, Robert Carroll, Chris Knowles-Thomas, John Lewis, Jeff Lynn, Brian Macdermott, Nick Stanbury, Ian Taylor and Glen Woods

[AY Mod]

May I be the first to thank Brian and The Team for all their efforts over the years which have been considerable. I only have some understanding of how many hours have been dedicated to it over the years and I'm sure it would be much more than even I comprehend. You've always worked to a well-planned schedule and process and in my role as a facilitator of the voting platform I can commend you on how well the communications and timelines were carried out; many people could learn a lot from your diligence and thoroughness.

 

I know there are very valid personal reasons behind arriving at the decision and those are absolutely paramount; in that regard I wish you all the best that I can.

 

I know manufacturers did benefit from having supplementary data to consider when planning programmes; I know that some recognised your efforts and know that some others should recognise it too. I also hope that the many participants each year go on to recognise your unpaid efforts too which were intended for the wider benefit of all. Noble altruism!

 

We'll enjoy continuing to working with you in a slighter lighter-hearted vein in The Quirky Poll around Christmas.

 

Our best wishes to you all.

[ChrisN]

May I thank you all for your hard work over the years.  I have enjoyed the polls immensely.  I am sure you will find plenty to do in the time freed up by stopping the poll.  I wish you all well.

[woodenhead]

Your job was done as soon as KR Models mentioned The Fell.

 

You've brought us a lot of pleasure over the years with the output of these polls.

Edited September 7, 2020 by woodenhead
Edit - Your for You're - the horror of poor grammar

[Metr0Land]

5 minutes ago, woodenhead said:

You're job was done as soon as KR Models mentioned The Fell. Dapol announced the Manor in 4mm

 

You've brought us a lot of pleasure over the years with the output of these polls.

 

But I agree with rest of woodenhead's sentiments.  Thank you all so much

['CHARD]

11 minutes ago, woodenhead said:

You're job was done The Devil himself rode as soon as KR Models mentioned The Fell.

 

 

[The Black Hat]

I'd also like to thank the poll team for all their hard work. Its given us a lot of data and insight into how the members of the hobby see their collections but also how they would like things to progress. Much of the data has been able to be poured over and analysed with trends clearly highlighted by those who then took some time to look through some of it. 

 

Its a pity that such a instrument might vanish. A poll always does help take stock of how popular some items or ideas are and this could still see someone else in the future take up the mantle to get one published. 

 

While it has been useful, there are many other areas that are being developed, but the fractured way in which the supply chain works means that not all have the data that other parts in the chain have. 

 

My thanks to the team for their time and energies in all the work they have done. Even the last poll will still have a few years left where the trends it shows will last into the future - so in many ways they can see the results of their good work for some time yet. 

[Barry O]

well done to all.. enjoy your rest.. wonder what manufacturers will do now for future models?

 

Baz

[Big James]

Thank you for doing the poll. I always enjoyed filling it out and always looked forward to it. You have done wonders to the hobby. 
 

Big James

[Legend]

Yes well done and thanks for your efforts . I think the poll grew to be very involved . For us it was always enjoyable to fill in but it must have been a monster to compile . Given the models that have been introduced in the last few years which scored highly in the poll , I think we can say it’s been influential .  So again thanks for all your efforts 

[Siberian Snooper]

I wish to add my heartfelt thanks to the poll team for all their efforts in producing the poll, even if non of the stuff I have voted for has been produced so far.

 

Thanks.

 

 

[The Black Hat]

On 07/09/2020 at 17:16, Barry O said:

well done to all.. enjoy your rest.. wonder what manufacturers will do now for future models?

 

Baz

Guess -  like most of them have done before. 

[Barry O]

1 minute ago, The Black Hat said:

Guess -  like most of them have done before. 

One in particular has dived in...others have never taken much notice..like B16s...

Bas

[woodenhead]

On 07/09/2020 at 17:16, Barry O said:

well done to all.. enjoy your rest.. wonder what manufacturers will do now for future models?

 

Baz

Use the aggregated results from previous years, the results were pretty solid over several years and for steam age models will give a clear picture of what should sell.

 

The only new prototypes to add to the list will the very modern trains and there is a group of companies now very focussed on this to keep the main new contemporary models coming to the fore.

[The Black Hat]

2 minutes ago, Barry O said:

One in particular has dived in...others have never taken much notice..like B16s...

Bas

 

One of the ironies of the way our sector works is that the shops see the people wanting the models and know what sells, but the companies making them dont have all of this data, nor do they always listen so instead produce something they *think* will be the next best answer. The Poll did help them steer towards what was popular but sometimes these have been deceptive. While the poll was great it did lean towards many of the steam and transition period aspects given the way the categories were structured and some models announced or made since never quite featured, especially novelty items like Rocket or the NER Autocar, or more modern items which is a period selling strongly. This isn't a criticism just that you cant include everything and the poll maintained its successful format allowing comparison and tracking data to be done (which I did) if you wanted to compile results. That will see many more models announced soon because of placement in the recent polls and because of the hard work the team has done which hopefully means that companies have an idea at least for now, of what some of us would like to see made given the poll is a part of the picture but a helpful one if you then add in information from other areas too.  

[wombatofludham]

On 07/09/2020 at 17:16, Barry O said:

wonder what manufacturers will do now for future models?

 

Baz

 

What I suspect they have always done - their own market research.

The annual poll was a heroic amount of work and a useful opinion poll, but I suspect it formed just one part of manufacturer's decision making input.  Despite the efforts of the team to try and get the poll out to as many different modellers and in as many different formats as possible, I know from my personal modelling friends and circle, of about half a dozen active modellers, I was the only one who filled in a survey, and I know of other, younger modellers who have their own social media groups who never interact with forums or magazines.  Of course, that isn't to invalidate the incredible amount of voluntary hard work that went into the survey, far from it, and to generate the data and gift it to the manufacturers effectively free of charge is extraordinary in these cynical times, and given the number of items it identified as popular which have made it to production shows the value of the exercise.  However, a number of projects have come forward which were either not listed or scored relatively low, which suggests that some manufacturers have and use other sources of information, possibly from those modellers who, like the ones I know, never took part in the survey.

I'll miss it, if only for the increasingly obscure list of kettle varieties I never knew existed, plus annual debates on whether their preferred version of Morphy-Richards Compound Mixed Traffic Tank, with the 1" bigger centre wheel boss and lined purple-black livery of which two were built, ran once then were rebuilt into simple engines, should be on the list as being more likely to sell.

Seriously though, it was a superb effort, and the modelling community should be grateful for all your hard work.

[The Johnster]

May I add my thanks and appreciation to the poll team.  We all think we know what will fly off the shelves like hot cakes, but sometimes fail to appreciate that some models present more difficulty in production tooling for efficient profitability at a competitive prices; this poll has proved a useful insight into the thinking that goes on in the big players' planning meetings, and may have edumackated us into what to ask for a little.  If the companies know what we want and they can give it to us while making money, they'll listen, and the poll gave one the feeling of being what Phoney Tony would have called a 'stakeholder' in the process.

 

Might I very respectfully suggest that we now have a formalised wishlisting topic, though I will understand if I can hear Andy Y's scream from here if he reads this...  

[AY Mod]

1 minute ago, The Johnster said:

Might I very respectfully suggest that we now have a formalised wishlisting topic, though I will understand if I can hear Andy Y's scream from here if he reads this

 

I may just allow it on the fifth Sunday in February for ten minutes. Outside of a well-structured poll it's a futile exercise; all noise and no numbers.

[Enterprisingwestern]

 

Well, that's my class 120 DMU out of the window!

 

Mike.

[The Johnster]

13 minutes ago, AY Mod said:

 

I may just allow it on the fifth Sunday in February for ten minutes. Outside of a well-structured poll it's a futile exercise; all noise and no numbers.

Fair enough, but there is a very clear demand and at least it might stop wishlisters (who, me?) from clogging up other threads.  My own wishlisting is wholly irrelevant as it concerns items that are far too esoteric and that would not sell well at all, and that I have no expectation of ever seeing in RTR form (this is of course a statement enticing suppliers to provide exactly these models just so that I can be proved wrong, and thus the reason I will not identify these prototypes here).

[Bucoops]

16 minutes ago, AY Mod said:

 

I may just allow it on the fifth Sunday in February for ten minutes. Outside of a well-structured poll it's a futile exercise; all noise and no numbers.

 

So kind of like Scrabble then?

 

I'd also like to thank the team for their efforts. I've only seen a couple of the polls and voted but it was always very clear the amount of work putting it together than then digesting it afterwards must have been enormous.

[cheesysmith]

I agree with what has been said, especially the point that if the number of people taking part is remaining constant, it will just repeat previous results minus the models that have been actually made. On this, I thank the team for the efforts they have made over the years.

 

As to the manufacturers, come on, there is lots can be done, at a profitable price point, to expand on what has gone before. Hornby has gone some way towards this with their 2bil/hal units, but where are the first gen DMUs? If they can make the EMUs with the sub £100 price, what about the other DMUs, and a range of DMUs would have greater component commonality across the range. I`m sure Hornby could make a 4 car transpeninne/intercity DMU for the £150 mark, and that is just working from the RRP of the coaches on sale now.

 

A personal note, who is the first to bring out a N4/N5 tank? 

[tomparryharry]

Best wishes from here, to both Brian,  and his team of compilers and facilitators. 

 

The increase of pollsters is, I guess, pro-rata with the increase of people actually registering onto RMWeb.  Add to that, as models enter the 'done' list, so the field opens out to the niche corners of the hobby. That is a testament of what you've achieved. 

 

 My worry is that manufacturers, devoid of poll-type information, lose their way.

 

Manufacturer quote*  " We were going to produce an LBSC mogul, but due to lack of poll direction, here's a Decapod for the Dogger Bank Light Railway". 

 

*Quote is in jest. 

 

Best Wishes,

Ian. 

[Enterprisingwestern]

7 minutes ago, tomparryharry said:

*Quote is in jest. 

 

We've had worse!

 

Mike.

[tomparryharry]

1 hour ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

We've had worse!

 

Mike.

Thanks Mike. I proof-read this note before I submitted it.....